The clinical whole body hyperthermia project (WBH) has examined the feasibility and safety of inducing whole body hyperthermia temperatures to 41.8 degrees C for periods up to 4 hours as a Phase I cancer study. This study is preliminary to combining WBH with systemic chemotherapy. Fourteen patients underwent this exposure in a phase I protocol. There was no mortality associated with the procedure. WBH treatment causes a 2-fold increase in cardiac index. Toxicity included severe fatigue in all patients. Diarrhea, nausea and post procedural fever were occasionally observed. Peripheral neuropathy occured in 4/14 patients. Responses were observed in 4/14 patients. The current and future course of the project include 2 phase I-II studies examining the feasibility and efficacy of WBH combined with (a) adriamycin or (b) methyl CCNU. In addition to the antitumor effect, ongoing studies include evaluation of cardiac function with adriamycin, pharmacokinetics of adriamycin and hyperthermia, immunology and peripheral nerve function studies in all patients undergoing systemic heat procedures.